piling insult on top of self-inflicted injury, john sununu told msnbc's andrea mitchell -- >> what people saw last night i think, was a president that revealed his incompetence, how lazy and detached he is. >> did you really mean to call barack obama the president of the united states lazy? >> he didn't want to prepare for this debate. he's lazy and disengaged. >> eliot: wow. asked if sununu's comments had overtones, it seems that way. obama's senior adviser david axelrod thinks romney's say what works strategy will ultimately work against him. >> eliot: which had better mean the next debate unless the president wants to see this slip away from him. joining me now rolling stone national affairs correspondent tim dickinson and doug thornel democratic strategist, knickerbocker former spokesman for the democratic campaign committee and traveling press secretary for howard dean's 2004 presidential campaign. thank you both for joining us. it was not so much fun watching last night and today, i kind of had the sense that we've read at different points in our lives about the seven stages of grie